Here is a short glossary to help familiarize you with the terminology most commonly used in the tea trade:
Grade terminology
Choppy - When the tea contains a lot of varying sized leaves.
Fannings - Small particles of tea leaves a grade higher than dust. Used almost exclusively in tea bags.
Flowery - A large leaf, typically plucked in second of third flush, with an abundance of tips
Golden Flowery - The tea contains very young tips or buds (which are usually golden in colour) that were picked early in the season.
Tippy - The tea contains an abundance of tips.
Whole leaf grades
The grades for whole leaf orthodox black tea (in ascending order) are:
- OP - Orange Pekoe - Main grade in tea production. Can consist of long wiry leaf without tips.
- OP sup - Orange Pekoe Superior - Primarily from Indonesia, tea is much the same as above
- F OP - Flowery Orange Pekoe - High quality tea with a long leaf and few tips, considered second grade in Assam, Dooars and Bangladesh and first grade in China
- F OP1 - Flowery Orange Pekoe First Grade Leaves - As above but with only the highest quality leaves in the F.O.P classification
- GF OP1 - Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe First Grade Leaves- Higher proportion of tip than FOP Top grade in Milima and Marinyn regions; Uncommon in Assam and Darjeeling.
- TGF OP - Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - Tea with the highest proportion of tip; Main grade in Darjeeling and Assam.
- TGF OP1 - Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - As above, but with only the highest quality leave in the T.G.F.O.P classification
- FTGF OP - Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - Highest quality tea in the world. Often hand processed and produced at only the best plantations. Roughly one quarter tips.
A joke among tea aficionados is that "FTGFOP" stands for "Far Too Good For Ordinary People".
Broken leaf grades
- BT - Broken Tea - Usually a black, open, fleshy leaf, very bulky. Classification used in Sumatra, Sri Lanka, some parts of Southern India.
- BP - Broken Pekoe- Most common broken pekoe grade. From Indonesia. Ceylon, Southern India.
- BPS - Broken Pekoe Souchong - Term for broken pekoe in Assam and Darjeeling.
- FP - Flowery Pekoe - High quality pekoe. Usually coarser, fleshier broken leaf. from Ceylon and Southern India, also produced in some parts of Kenya.
- BOP - Broken Orange Pekoe - Main broken grade. Prevalent in Ceylon, Southern India, Java and China.
- F BOP - Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe - Coarser broken with some tips from Assam, Ceylon, Indonesia, China and Bangladesh. In South America coarser, black broken.
- F BOP F - Finest Broken Orange Pekoe Flowery - The finest broken orange pekoe. Higher proportion of tips. Mainly from Ceylon's "low districts".
- G BOP - Golden Broken Orange Pekoe - Second grade tea, uneven leaves and few tips.
- GF BOP1 - Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe 1 - As above, but with only the highest quality leaves in the GFBOP classification.
- TGF BOP1 - Tippy Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe 1 - High quality leaves with high proportion of tips. Finest broken First Grade Leaves in Darjeeling and some parts of Assam.
Fannings grades
- PF - Pekoe Fannings -
- OF - Orange Fannings - From Northern India and some parts of Africa and South America.
- FOF - Flowery Orange Fannings - Common in Assam, Dooars and Bangladesh. Some leaf sizes come close to the smaller broken grades.
- GFOF - Golden Flowery Orange Fannings- Finest grade in Darjeeling for teabag production.
- TGFOF - Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Fannings.
- BOPF - Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings - Main grade in Ceylon, Indonesia, Southern India, Kenya, Mozambique, Bangladesh and China. Black-leaf tea, few added ingredients, uniform particle size, no tips.
Dust grades
- D1 - Dust 1 - From Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China, Africa, South America and Southern India.
- PD - Pekoe Dust
- PD1 - Pekoe Dust 1 - Mainly produced in India.
